Goodbye Isn't Always Forever
by GrandOldPenguin
Summary: When Mrs. Tweed had to leave Tod in the forest, she had thought their goodbye would last forever. But delivering some milk one day, she comes upon a familiar furry face.


At the edge of a dirt road running through the forest, five red fox kits looked up at their mother. "Whenever the grass ends, kits," Vixey said to her two-month-olds, "you need to be careful. Always look and listen to be sure a road is clear before crossing." She looked down the road to her left and then checked that her kits were looking too. She listened for any sounds of vehicles as she looked up the road to her right. After one more peek to her left, she stepped forward. "OK, follow me across."

In a single line, the kits followed Vixey. The five were one fewer than the six she had hoped to have when she had met Tod, but she was still delighted to have a family with her love no matter what the size. Besides, Tod had told her that six would be their goal for next season.

Bringing up the rear of the fox line was the proud father himself. Or at least he was until he stopped about halfway across the road, letting his three sons and two daughters finish without him.

"Tod!" Vixey called to him after he had stood there for a moment. "What are you doing? Whenever the grass ends, you need to be careful. That's the lesson we're trying to teach our kits."

"I know, Vixey," he said as he started crossing the rest of the way. "And it's a very important lesson. I just thought I heard something."

Vixey turned her head and ears toward where her mate had been looking. Faintly, she heard something too. "It's just a car in the distance."

"The engine just seemed so familiar to me. Like the car the old widow who raised me drove. She was the sweetest lady ever."

Vixey cocked her head. "The sweetest?"

Tod chuckled. "OK," he said as he nuzzled his vixen, "the second sweetest."

"Eww! Dad! Mom!" one of the couple's daughters said as she and her siblings turned away.

"Be nice, Judy," Vixey said. "Someday you will meet a handsome fox who will love you just as much as your father loves me."

"I hope I don't!"

"I hope you do!" Loki, the youngest kit by nineteen minutes, teased his sister.

"Kits! Kits!" Vixey said. She turned to Tod. "See what you started?"

Tod just looked back at her and smiled.

— § —

Every time she drove through the game preserve, Mrs. Tweed thought about him. Letting Tod go was the hardest thing she had had to endure since her husband had died years earlier, but she knew it was the only way to keep him out of trouble and safe from Amos. Loaded up today with three jugs of milk to deliver to a cheesemaker, she wondered again how her "little toddler," who had grown up much too fast, was doing out in a world he had barely known before he had lost his mother and she had taken him in.

As she neared a family of foxes at the side of the road, the tails of the two adults facing her, the old woman couldn't help but smile. There were many foxes in this forest, which had made her feel a little better about having to leave Tod there. She had hoped he had been able to find a friend or mate to show him the natural fox ways.

Just as she was passing, one of the adults turned toward her. While from behind he had looked like any other fox, suddenly she saw a face that she could never forget. "It can't be!" She pulled to the side of the road and looked behind her about fifty feet. She no longer had to wonder how Tod was doing. "Tod!" A big smile came to her face.

Almost immediately, though, she turned back around, wishing she hadn't called his name. As much as she wanted to get out and see him, she didn't want to confuse him further by suddenly appearing in his life again and then disappearing just as quickly. He was a wild fox now, and it was best for him to have as little disturbance by humans as possible. With tears in her eyes, she put her foot back on the gas pedal and began driving away.

After a short distance, something wet ran up her right arm. She turned to see the fox she had raised licking her from the other half of the bench seat, apparently having climbed in during the few moments she had been stopped. "Oh, Tod," she said as she smirked, acknowledging his mischievousness. She pulled over again. Giving in to her heart, she reached out and petted the back of his neck. "It's good to see you too."

Tod enjoyed the pets for a moment and then stepped a little closer to his former caregiver. Tweed half laughed, half groaned as the fox suddenly jumped into her lap and put his front paws on her chest. "I've missed you," she said as she wrapped her arms around him. The tears in her eyes spilled over as Tod started licking her face. "I love you too, Tod. I love you too." She hugged him tighter for a moment and then pulled him away from her face a little. "But you can't come home with me. I think we both know that."

Tod didn't reply, of course, but he looked back at her in a way that told her that he knew their reunion would just be temporary.

"Besides," Tweed continued as she smiled, "it seems you're doing pretty well for yourself out here. You're strong and healthy and"—she turned around for a moment to look at Vixey and the kits down the road before turning back to Tod—"she's beautiful, Tod. I'm so happy that you have her and some little ones."

Tweed and Tod spent a few more minutes together before she picked him up and stepped out of the car. He had gained a little weight since she had last carried him but not unhealthily so. She walked over to the grass at the side of the road and set him down before getting on her knees to say goodbye—perhaps not forever but at least for the moment. But Tod wasn't ready yet, and he barked as he turned toward his mate down the road.

Vixey barked back, unsure, but Tod reassured her. Seconds later, she and the kits started walking toward him.

Tweed watched the other foxes walking toward her and Tod, and when they were about fifteen feet away, Tod took the right sleeve of the widow's sweater in his mouth and started lightly tugging so she would stand up and follow him forward. She was touched that Tod wanted to share his family with her.

When the eight met, Tweed slowly moved her hand toward Vixey. Gently, she stroked her back. "Hi, beautiful. Thank you for looking after my Tod and keeping him _mostly_ out of trouble."

On Vixey's right, one of her sons and both her daughters started rolling around in the grass and climbing onto each other, lightly play fighting. Tweed got a chuckle out of watching Judy gently nibble her brother Robin's ear while her own tail was in the mouth of her sister, Autumn. Lying on the grass under Vixey, his head between his mother's front legs, was Redd, who looked at Tweed curiously but was a bit too shy to step out into the open. Tweed bent over a bit to look at the kit a little closer but didn't attempt to touch him. As she did so, Loki ran out from behind his mother's tail and charged at Tweed's left boot. Tweed didn't see it, she felt it, looking down then to see the kit with now-untied laces in his mouth. "You certainly have your father's mischievousness," she said as she scooped the kit up in her hands and stood up. He licked her chin.

Tod barked, and the three kits who were play fighting stopped and stepped in front of Tweed. Without setting Loki down, Tweed scooped up the three and hugged all four together. On his own, Redd then approached Tweed and soon found himself joining his siblings in the woman's embrace. "What a beautiful family," Tweed said as she looked at the kits in her arms and the two adults in front of her.

After a few minutes, Tweed got down on her knees and set the kits down in front of their mother. She petted the vixen once more and then turned to the fox who had started it all. "Thank you for sharing your family with me. I'll never forget them." She opened her arms and Tod climbed onto her chest, resting his head between her neck and shoulder. "And I'll never forget you," she said as she hugged him goodbye. "I'll always love you, Tod."


End file.
